Chapter 9

MOMO caught sight of the bedraggled brunette early in the morning, smiled, and bounded up to her, "Good morning, Shion!" She held out a small pink tray barely visible from the pile of plates stacked upon it, "I brought you some breakfast!"

"Thanks, MOMO," Shion forced a smile after blinking to keep awake, "Where are the others?"

"They just ate. You know, I set a whole table for all of them, and when I left to get some salt for their pancakes and came back, they all disappeared! I tried to look for them, because pancakes just don't taste as great without a bit of salt, but I couldn't find them anywhere…"

Shion couldn't help but think, 'Did you check the bathroom…?"

"…Maybe next time I won't forget to put out salt for them, huh?" MOMO beamed, evidently proud of herself.

"Yeah, well…Thanks again for breakfast."

Shion eyed the pancake cautiously, almost taking a bite when MOMO suddenly asked, "Did KOS-MOS find out yet?"

"N-No, she didn't," She put her fork down a little too quickly to answer her, but she was glad for an interruption, "She won't stop asking me, though. I feel so sorry for her. I wish I could have apologized to…him, too. It's a pity that we ended on bitter terms."

MOMO's expression remained the same, "He wouldn't hold a grudge against anyone, Shion. I'm sure he forgave you the moment you stormed out of the room. Two years is too long a time to stay contemptuous, don't you think?"

"Yeah…"

"So…" The Realian girl's golden eyes hazed in concern, "Are you sure KOS-MOS doesn't remember anything?"

"Only the process of healing and the name of the incident. But even that small piece of knowledge doesn't prevent her from investigating-I think she might find out sooner or later just by act of will alone-" They both turned their heads in surprise as someone entered the room. It was Ziggy.

The blonde cyborg nodded in MOMO's direction as she smiled wider and ran up to hug him around the middle, "Good to see you, MOMO." She said the same thing and he looked over at Shion. They didn't exchange any words, but they communicated through a brief moment's eye contact. To MOMO, he continued, "Your mom needs to see you now. I'm unsure whether it's for another analysis or just a visit. I'll escort you there."

"Great! I get to see Mommy and spend time with you, Ziggy?" Shion smiled at the eagerness in the Realian's tone. Ziggy leaned one hand on her head to keep her from bouncing around too much when they left the dining room. Just when silence was once again restored in the dining room, the automated doors slid open and a smaller boy rushed in.

He played around with his new gun while he spoke in a rather loud voice, "Hey, Shion."

"Oh, hi Jr." She smiled back in response.

"Do you know where Ziggy and MOMO are going?"

Shion wracked the back of her brain to remember. She hadn't really been paying attention to their conversation just a few minutes earlier, "Um…I think Ziggy said something about MOMO going to get an analysis or visiting her mom."

"Aw, man!" Jr. frowned in disappointment, "Now I can't show her my collection."

"Jr., you showed her about ten times already."

He exhaled a short amount of air in exasperation, "Who doesn't want to see guns? Especially mine! I probably have the best damn collection in the whole galaxy!"

"…True." She muttered half-heartedly in reply, already growing tired of discussion.

"Oh, and I came to warn you that KOS-MOS has been infiltrating the Men's Lodge a while back."

"WHAT?!"

"Yeah." The red-haired boy scratched the back of his head, "Does that mean she still remembers him?"

"That's impossible!"

"I know! You deleted all of her memories about the incident, right?" His blue eyes flashed a look of doubt for a split second.

"Well, yes, I did." Shion's brows furrowed in immense confusion, "I think she's just doing some more research again, but she won't be able to gather any further knowledge. That is…unless someone told her, which I highly don't see as an option. Everyone aboard the ELSA knows of this confidential information-"

"Exactly why do we have to keep this away from KOS-MOS?"

"…" Shion met his gaze, "I don't want to, either. But…he wanted it that way."

Jr. shuffled his feet uneasily, "Damn…he doesn't want to see her anymore?"

"I think I understand, but no one really fully understood him, so… Let's not jump to conclusions, alright?"

The smaller boy nodded in agreement, "In that case, you should tell KOS-MOS the…truth. Maybe knowing something will make her stop ransacking the Men's Lodge."

"Oh! I forgot about that! Don't worry, Jr. I'll tell her soon. You and the other guys should clean up the room, then."

"Okay," Jr. turned around and sprinted in the opposite direction to leave the room, "See ya around, Shion!" The room went silent for a while, allowing the 25-year old to concentrate on her task. In that case, you should tell KOS-MOS the…truth. He was right. Completely ignoring KOS-MOS' desire to figure out this mystery might end in disaster.

A stray, nagging thought crossed her mind, causing the brunette to gulp in horror, 'I can't possibly tell her that!' But she couldn't muse on the idea when a certain blue-haired android entered the room. Instead of lingering in the doorway to observe the room's environment, the guest briskly walked up to Shion and stood before her stiffly.

"Good morning again, Shion."

"G-good morning, KOS-MOS." She tried her best to smile, but it turned out to look meek.

"The URTV 666 headed out of this particular accommodation, so I directed my sensors to locate you in the place he previously left."

"His name is Jr., KOS-MOS." Shion frowned vaguely, "When did you start calling him URTV 666?"

"Please answer my interrupted question from 7 hours and 02 minutes ago."

'I guess I have no choice…' Taking a deep breath, she decided to say, "Okay, KOS-MOS. I'm sure that you've been noticing absent fragments and unexplained phenomena in your memories. The explanation for all of these things is…" Shion faltered, still debating between continuing or finding an excuse to run an errand, "…"

"Please continue." She couldn't avoid it this time. KOS-MOS seemed to be blocking the only exit.

"…I'm sure you realized that someone is gone from your Banks, not something."

"Precisely." A hint of impatience hid in her tone.

"The someone you can't find, no matter how hard you looked. KOS-MOS…his name is chaos."

"chaos…" KOS-MOS repeated his name under her breath, but no more information could be found under his name. it was an entirely new and foreign name to her, "Thank you for telling me, Shion." She finally said, turning on the ball of her heel to depart, "I will go through extensive research to find more about this individual." When she could sense that Shion was about to protest, she said, "I know that you have deleted him from my memory, but I will not blame you for your actions. I am efficient at locating even the most impossible subjects, and hope to answer the mysteries that I experience."

"KOS-MOS, you can't look for him!"

The android stopped in her tracks, "Elaborate."

"Please…just forget about him. You can't look for him, because…" Shion seemed to be fighting an internal battle, "…because…chaos is dead, KOS-MOS."

Author's Note: gets shot by chaos fans …Please just keep reading, even if you thought 'OMG! THIS IS SO STUPID!' or 'THAT DOESN'T MAKE SENSE! WTF?!' I hope everything falls into place later on in the fanfiction, and I also hope you readers won't be disappointed…if you aren't already. Reviews o kaite kudasai